Silenced Whispers
by JustNotNormal
Summary: *Whispers in the Dark sequel* Grace has finally found her family, and is back at Camp Half-Blood, but something is wrong. Someone supposedly long-dead is back, begging for help in saving people who haven't been seen in a long time, and solving the mystery that changed her life fourteen years ago...


**Hello! Welcome to Silenced Whispers, the long awaited sequel to my other fanfic Whispers in the Dark. If you have already read that, please continue, if you haven't and would like to read this story, I recommend you read Whispers first or you might get confused. Please enjoy reading this, and thanks for taking the time to try it!**

**SILENCED WHISPERS - Chapter One**

With a crash, I hit the surface of the water and sank through the cool sunlight dappled waves. I didn't panic. I knew that whenever I needed to take a breath, I'd be able to. My fingers curled through the water, dry even as I sank deeper. I opened my mouth and breathed deeply, only to swallow a huge mouthful of water. I choked, trying to cough and failing. My arms flailed, my legs trying to kick to the surface but the weight of the water seemed to hold me down. I was drowning. A stab of pain went through my chest as I felt the lack of oxygen and the deep panic settling there. A hand grabbed mine as I spluttered and swallowed even more water, pulling me upwards. I broke the surface and my eyes shot open to see my own room. Alex, my best friend, stood next to me in his navy blue pyjama trousers and a blue t shirt with the Captain America logo on his chest. His tall, lanky form towered over me, his caramel skin only just visible from under his messy, dark chocolate brown hair.

"Grace, are you okay?"

"Hmm." I mumbled, trying not to show the fading panic. "Yeah, I just had a bad dream." My British accent was still strong, but now that I had been in America for almost a year it had faded a bit. I looked around my room. It was smaller than Alex's, which was only fair as he had to share with my older brother, Luke. We were at my grandmother and grandfather's new apartment in New York for the school year, but were returning to camp for the summer. My rucksack sat in the corner of the room waiting to go.

"What about?" Alex asked, concerned.

"I was drowning. Someone pushed me into the water and I almost drowned." I explained breathlessly. Alex frowned sympathetically.

"Are you sure you're okay?" I nodded quickly. "Sally says breakfast is in five minutes, then Luke wants to leave as soon as possible." I nodded again, showing that I understood. Alex left and I got dressed in skinny jeans, my battered pair of dark red Converse and an old t shirt. Most of my clothes were hand-me-downs from other campers that had been given to me when I first arrived in America, but I didn't mind. They were comfortable.

I walked into the kitchen where Alex, Luke, my grandmother Sally and my step-grandfather Paul were already gathered. A plate of blue pancakes sat in the middle of the table, still steaming hot. I stacked couple onto a plate and sat down.

"Morning," greeted my brother, Luke. He looked just like my father, Percy Jackson, in the pictures I'd seen; the same lean, lanky but muscular figure, ever-changing eyes the colour of the sea and unruly hair, though his was honey blonde. Luke was an inch or two taller than Alex, around 6'2", but he was also a year older at seventeen. He was stuffing pancakes into his mouth seemingly faster than he could possibly be able to swallow them. "Are you ready to go? I want to leave soon to avoid the traffic."

"I'm all packed, I think," I told him. Alex nodded to show that he was also ready. I finished my food and ran to get my bag. Sally and Paul bode us farewell with hugs, bags of warm, blue chocolate chip cookies and the promise that we would call whenever we could. We piled into Luke's old car, something he'd had when Alex and I had first met him.

After he'd rescued us from Arachne's spider-infested underground lair, he'd filled us in on his side of the story.  
He'd lived with a group of demigods a few years older than him for as long as he could remember, until one day, a voice in his dreams had told him that there were demigods in danger, including his long-lost younger sister, in New York (those demigods being Alex, Jess and me). Luke had then made it to us just in the nick of time, though it wasn't quick enough to save Jess. After, I had explained to him about our parents.

The car journey to Camp Half-Blood was quick enough, we encountered no traffic, no car problems (Luke's car was quite old and prone to occasional malfunctions) and most importantly, no monsters, which was lucky as we were three powerful demigods travelling through open roads. I made sure Luke parked inside the boundaries of the magical shield surrounding the camp, and hopped out of the car. I realised that I was smiling widely, but I couldn't help it. I was back at my favourite place in the world.

As we walked down the hill to the Big House, I saw campers sparring in the open-air arena, hanging around by the cabins, laughing loudly as they walked to their next activities. Chiron was sat in his wheelchair form on the wraparound porch of the Big House overseeing the scene. I realised that Luke had never been here before, and would need introduction.

"Luke, that's Chiron, the camp director." I explained, but he wasn't listening. His gaze was fixed on the campers practising sword fighting. In particular, a girl with shoulder length black hair. She was a fierce fighter, clearly overpowering her opponent. She looked about sixteen, but I couldn't be sure from this far away. "Luke." I repeated, trying to catch his attention back.

"Yeah," he mumbled, obviously not listening.

"Luke? Luke. LUKE!" I yelled eventually, realising it would be the only way to wake him from his trance.

"What?" Luke's eyes snapped back to me, finally.

"Are you quite finished ogling your new girlfriend?" I teased. He elbowed me. "Come and meet Chiron."

After Jess had died, Alex and I had returned to camp to tell Chiron the news, but Luke hadn't come with us. Chiron smiled sadly as we approached, as if remembered the events that led up to our last conversation.

"Good morning, Grace, Alex." He greeted in his familiar, soothing voice.

"Chiron, this is my brother, Luke. Uh, we also have some other news to tell you." I said remembering everything else we hadn't told him.

"Chiron, we found out some things about our parents."

"I feared you would. How is your grandmother?" I almost laughed. Of course he already knew. He probably knew from the moment I introduced myself.

"She's great."

"Wonderful. Well, your bunks are ready. Grace, Luke, I thought it would be better for you to stay in Poseidon's cabin as it is empty at the moment." Luke and I nodded in agreement and I took Luke to the cabin to show him around. It was a low, grey stone building with tiny sea shells fossilised in the stone. Inside, a polished stone fountain trickled in the corner. A mobile made from copper coloured, delicate, intricate seahorses hung from the ceiling.

"This place is pretty cool." Luke admitted, grinning as he dumped his bag on a bunk opposite the one I had chosen.

"Yeah, it's alright." I smiled.

A few days had passed and I had settled back into to daily life at Camp Half-Blood. Nothing much happened until the evening campfire on the third night.

Around sixty campers were gathered, sat on logs, picnic blankets and foldup chairs. The huge campfire burned golden, highlighted with flecks of pink, orange and red.

"Good evening, campers. I have a few announcements to make-" the campfire spluttered, black flames sparking. Excited muttering filled the circle. An image was starting to form in the flames. The girl sat next to me drew a dagger from her belt, and I almost pulled my sword from my belt, but refrained.

"What is that?" She muttered. I turned to look at her and recognised her as the girl Luke had stared at.

"I don't know. Hey, I don't think I've met you before. I'm Grace." I decided I would try and help Luke talk to her, since at the moment he was staring at her from my other side.

"I'm Kat. Nice to meet you." I was about to introduce Luke when Chiron yelled for silence. A face had appeared in the flames. He had long, black hair, dark eyes and pale skin. He was breathing raggedly, his eyes filled with fear, sadness and a certain controlled insanity.

"It can't be…" I saw Chiron muttering under his breath.

"Chiron! Help me- I can't keep…" The boy's face turned paler still.

"Trace the message! Find out where it's coming from!" Chiron barked to a group of campers I didn't know. They scattered, some running to the flames, some racing to the cabins.

"Nico, where are you?" Chiron asked the boy. He didn't seem to hear.

"I can't keep them alive for much longer," He almost sobbed.

"Who? Where are you?" Chiron asked in vain. The image was flickering.

"Help me, please…" The boy's eyes were drooping, as if he were falling asleep.

"Nico!" Chiron yelled, but the connection was breaking up. He turned away from the fire as the boy disappeared. His gaze flitted to me and Luke. He looked confused, like he wasn't sure if he should be happy or worried.

"Grace, Luke, that boy disappeared at the same time as your parents. He's supposed to be an adult. He looked around fifteen there… he was twenty when he disappeared."

"So he might know what happened to our parents? Who did he mean when he said he couldn't keep them alive?"

"I don't know. But I do know this: you two have another quest."

**Thanks for reading! I'll try and update soon!**

**Thank you very much to WisdomWarrior9 for the title and the character Kat, who will be featuring a lot in future chapters. **


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